Just after 12:15 a.m., fire units were dispatched to a vehicle fire just above Powellton Road between DeSabla and Stirling City, threatening the vegetation on the Skyway at Hupp Coutolenc Road, according to Capt. Scott McLean, Cal Fire-Butte County spokesman.

On arrival, the firefighters discovered a car engulfed in flames. The fire had extended a short way into the surrounding vegetation.

The fire was quickly extinguished and in the process of finishing the job, the firefighters "popped the trunk," explained McLean.

On opening the trunk, they discovered the bodies, according to the Sheriff's Office, which is investigating.

Rhonda Maehl and her husband, David, who live nearby, were getting ready to go to bed around midnight when they heard a "big boom."

They began to investigate to make sure it wasn't around their home. Rhonda Maehl said her husband then looked out the back door and heard a car horn blaring.

They both assumed it was no car accident.

Maehl said her husband arrived at the burning car first, called 9-1-1 and tried making his way to the car, a four-door sedan.

"He couldn't see anybody in the car, couldn't see anything in it," she said Thursday morning. "But there wasn't much of anything we could do."

They heard no screaming and saw no movement. She said she did not hear any other vehicles at the time of the incident.

Maehl said the sedan's driver-side tires were still in the roadway.

"It was like they just pulled over to just sit," she said. "It was just parked and burning."

Maehl said the fire seemed to emanate from the back seat to the front.

"The rear tire on the passenger side was already melted to the rim on the ground when we got here," she said. "We watched and listened to the other tires explode later on."